June 2018 Monday Lecture Series

Spiritualists, Suffragists, & Other Nasty Women of the Mid-19th Century, a lecture by Dr. Amy Lehman, Associate Professor, Theatre and Dance, University of South Carolina

When a woman spoke out or performed on a public stage or reform platform in mid-19th c. America, she was likely to be labelled a “nasty woman” – or worse. Whether as a suffragist, spiritualist, abolitionist or actress, if she were seen to abandon her sacred domestic role as the “Angel in the House” a woman might expect fierce public scrutiny and often scathing criticism. This talk will discuss the struggles and strategies of celebrated women activists and reformers like Susan B. Anthony, who despite relentless opposition, nonetheless persisted in making their voices heard.

The noon Lecture & Luncheon is SOLD OUT.
The 2pm Lecture & Tea is SOLD OUT.

VoteTilla To Be Presented with Award

VoteTilla, a July 2017 project of the National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House,  will be awarded  the Engaging Communities Award as part of the Museum Association of New York’s 2018 conference “Visioning Change.” The Award Ceremony will take place at 8:00 AM on Monday, April 9, 2018 at the Hyatt Regency Rochester. Photo opportunities available. For further information please contact info@nysmuseums.org or 518-273-3400.

UPDATE: Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul presenting the MANY Engaging Communities Award for July 2017’s VoteTilla to the Anthony Museum. Accepting the award are Deborah L. Hughes and Sharon Salluzzo (Chair, Board of Trustees). We share this award with all the volunteers and partners who made VoteTilla a success!

Deborah L. Hughes to Speak at Arizona State University

On Thursday, March 29, Deborah L. Hughes will present Interpreting a 19th Century Icon for the 21st Century: The National Susan B. Anthony Museum and House at Arizona State University, Institute for Humanities Research, Tempe, Arizona.  That afternoon she will talk about the challenges involved in running a museum dedicated to the women’s rights icon and that is itself an historical landmark. She will also discuss the museum’s efforts to make its collections more accessible to 21st century audiences.

Hughes is president, CEO, and executive director of the Susan B. Anthony Museum and House in Rochester, New York, a position she’s held since 2007. Hughes has a degree in religious studies from University of Oregon and a graduate degree from Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School.


The National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House interprets the legacy of the great reformer to inspire and challenge individuals to make a positive difference in their lives and communities. We preserve and share the National Historic Landmark that was her home and headquarters, collect and exhibit artifacts related to her life and work, and offer tours and interpretive programs to share her story with the world.

Monday Lecture Series 2017-18

2017-2018

The National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House proudly presents the 15th season of its popular Monday Lecture Series. This season’s innovative line-up features six guest speakers covering a range of topics inspired by the life, work, and legacy of Susan B. Anthony.

September 18, 2017    A Monument to Woman—The Woman Suffrage Statue. Sandra Weber, author and historian

November 13, 2017   Unknown Frederick Douglass: The Life & Times of New Washington City.  John H. Muller, DC Public Library, author, historian

December 4, 2017   Woman Suffrage & the New York Constitutional Conventions of 1846 & 1867-68. ​ Dr. Jenny Lloyd, History Professor Emerita, The College at Brockport

Women’s History Month special Tea – March 5, 2018   Margaret Fuller, the “Marriage Question,” & the Culture of Reform.  T. Gregory Garvey, Professor of English, College at Brockport.  This presentation is SOLD OUT.

May 7, 2018  Funding Feminism: Following the Money in the Woman Suffrage Movement.   Dr. Joan Marie Johnson, historian

June 18, 2018   Spiritualists, Suffragists, & Other Nasty Women of the Mid-19th Century.  Dr. Amy Lehman, Associate Professor, Theater and Dance, University of South Carolina This presentation is SOLD OUT.

Each presentation is offered in our Carriage House as a noon luncheon ($30 individual reservation) or 2 pm informal tea ($15 individual reservation), except for our Women’s History Month presentation on March 5, 2018, which will only be offered as a lecture and tea ($25).

Remember Susan B. Anthony on March 13

sba_fullOn March 13, 1906, at forty minutes past midnight, Susan B. Anthony died at the age of 86 in her own bed on the second floor of the house on Madison Street, her home of 40 years.

At her request, much of the ceremonial mourning of the day was not observed: no shades were drawn, no black crepe hung. Only a simple wreath of violets was placed on the front door. For two days, close friends and family came to call. Then on March 15, the world said good-bye at an immense funeral held in Central Presbyterian Church (now the Hochstein School of Music). Amid a raging blizzard, thousands of mourners filled the church and over ten thousand more passed by her flag-draped coffin that was flanked by an honor guard of women students from the University of Rochester—the school she’d finally opened up to them in 1901. Next to the coffin was a silk suffrage flag with four gold stars, representing the only states where women then could vote; pinned on her breast was a jeweled flag pin with four diamond stars, a gift from women of Wyoming, the first in our nation to win the vote, thanks to all of her efforts on their behalf.IMG_3042

The Rochester newspaper of the day reported: “Rochester made no secret of its personal grief. There must have been people of every creed, political party, nationality, and plane of life in those long lines that kept filing through the aisles of Central Church. The young and the aged of the land were represented. Every type was there to bow in reverence, respect and grief. Professional men, working men, financiers came to offer homage. Women brought little children to see the face of her who had aimed at being the emancipator of her sex, but whose work had ended just as victory seemed within reach. Priests, ministers…, rabbis …, came to look upon her who had more than once given them inspiration in dark moments.”

The service in the church lasted an hour and a half. It took another 2 or more hours for the thousands of mourners to file past the coffin. Finally, in late afternoon, with the snowstorm still raging, Susan B’s most intimate friends and relatives accompanied her to her final resting place in Mt. Hope Cemetery. There, beneath a simple white stone engraved only with her name and dates, she was laid to rest. The final words were spoken by her dear friend, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, who in tender and reverent voice, pronounced these solemn words: “Dear friend, thou hast tarried with us long; thou has now gone to thy well-earned rest. We beseech the Infinite Spirit who has upheld thee to make us worthy to follow in thy steps and carry on the work. Hail and farewell.”

Some years earlier, during a family reunion at her birthplace in Adams, Massachusetts, Susan B. Anthony had written her own epitaph. As the family gathered out in the yard on a glorious summer day, amid the horse-drawn carriages of all those who had come to call, someone remarked that the scene looked like a funeral. Anthony immediately replied:

“When it is a funeral, remember that I want there should be no tears.
Pass on, and go on with the work.”

Please join us for a memorial wreath ceremony on Monday, March 13, at 11:45 am. The short ceremony will be followed by a Lunch and Lecture in our Carriage House (that event is sold out). The wreath hanging is free and open to the public. Dress for the weather.

Anthony Museum 2017-18 Monday Lecture Series

 


September 18, 2017    A Monument to Woman—The Woman Suffrage Statue. Sandra Weber, author and historian

November 13, 2017   Unknown Frederick Douglass: The Life & Times of New Washington City.  John H. Muller, DC Public Library, author, historian

December 4, 2017   Woman Suffrage & the New York Constitutional Conventions of 1846 & 1867-68. ​ Dr. Jenny Lloyd, History Professor Emerita, The College at Brockport

Women’s History Month special Tea – March 5, 2018   Margaret Fuller, the “Marriage Question,” & the Culture of Reform.  T. Gregory Garvey, Professor of English, College at Brockport

May 7, 2018  Funding Feminism: Following the Money in the Woman Suffrage Movement.   Dr. Joan Marie Johnson, historian

June 18, 2018   Spiritualists, Suffragists, & Other Nasty Women of the Mid-19th Century.  Dr. Amy Lehman, Associate Professor, Theater and Dance, University of South Carolina

Each presentation is offered in our Carriage House as a noon luncheon ($30 individual reservation) or 2 pm informal tea ($15 individual reservation), except for our Women’s History Month presentation on March 5, 2018, which will only be offered as a lecture and tea ($25).

To make your reservation, click here.

Anthony Museum Announces Annual Family Tea Event

Grandparent Grandchild Tea 2014 room shot Reservations are now open for our annual Family Tea intergenerational event on

Saturday, April 23

2pm – 4pm

$35.00

(includes admission for 1 adult/1 child)

 

Whether you are a grandparent, parent, aunt, uncle, or a friend, you and your special little one will enjoy an inspiring afternoon at the National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House!

Tour the Anthony House and learn all about the ways people communicated in the 19th century

Enjoy an informal “tea” with hot beverages and yummy light refreshments

Create hand-crafted notecards

Have your photo taken with “Susan B. Anthony”

This event is strictly limited. Advance reservations are required and may be made online or by calling our administrative office at 585/279-7490 x 10.

Grandparent Grandchild Tea 2016 Cards

United, Women Can Accomplish Much

front elevation with historic markerAfter Mary S. Anthony’s death in 1907, the house at 17 Madison Street served as both a single family home and a boarding house. In 1944, the Rochester Federation of Women’s Clubs placed a simple marker to commemorate that this was once the home of the Great Reformer, Susan B. Anthony, and her sister, a reformer in her own right, Mary S. Anthony. The placement of this marker fueled conversations about a more permanent memorial and led, one year later, to the purchase of 17 Madison Street with funds raised by the Rochester Federation of Women’s Clubs.

The Federation was recently featured in the Genesee Valley Penny Saver. To read the full article, please visit their website.